May Fate Reign Over Us
by neverendingstoryx
Summary: Mary and Francis, if she was just Mary, and he was just Francis, their love would be easier. But with the enemies at court and beyond, this is going to be a hell of a war.
1. Chapter 1

Mary sat alone in her bed chamber. She played with her necklace absent mindedly. Why was Francis so angry at her? It was almost as if he had seen the reckless kiss with Bash. She knew it was not possible. He was probably snaking his arm around Olivia's waist. How had things gotten so complicated? And she had foolishly said she was his just hours before. She touched her lips. Had she felt anything with Bash? She had been too drunk to remember if her heart beat fast as it had with Francis. She tucked herself under the silken sheets and thought of the convent. How easy things had been then. She almost wished she was marrying a man she didn't love. At least then it would not matter if he had a mistress, or if he did not love her back. With Francis, it would tear her in two if she found out he was with another. Olivia. This had to be a plot of the Queen. She knew it in her bones. She rolled to her side and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be another day.

Francis undressed himself and sat alone in his bed. The moonlight was shining through his window. All he could see in his mind was Bash and Mary, together. The highest betrayal. What had his father once told him about a kings trust? Dangerous to give, and easy for others to feign. He cursed himself for still loving Mary despite this. Had he drove her to his brother's arms? He stared into the flame of the candle. His bedroom door creaked open as Olivia gracefully walked in.

"Olivia, why are you here?" Francis said politely.

"You know why. I missed you" she replied, with that familiar smile. He did not feel any uncertainty with her. She made her feelings clear. She would never hurt him the way Mary had. She climbed into his bed and nestled herself against his chest. Her pale blue eyes found his and she smirked.

"I will be your mistress, beginning now if you would like" she said, toying with the strings on his blouse.

"Olivia, I am sorry. I cannot do this anymore. I am with Mary now." he said, looking into Olivia's shocked eyes. She bit her lip.

"Don't you remember how I made you feel?" she said in a low voice, moving her hand lower. He stopped her and gave her arm a shake.

"Olivia, please. The past is the past. If I am to judge Mary for any indiscretions she may bring to our relationships, I must not make the same mistakes." he said firmly, lifting the sheets so that she would remove herself from his bed.

"So thats it? You're going to send me off to some terrible family in the freezing snows of Prussia? Isolated from everyone I know? Away from you? I thought you loved me." Olivia cried. Francis tried to console her but she had already left. Francis knew in that moment that nothing would ever make him so whole as when he was with Mary. He had to fight for her. If Bash wanted a competition, a competition he would get.

The next morning, Mary sat with her ladies during breakfast. Francis approached her.

"Could I have a word?" he asked, extending his arm. He saw the fleeting look of surprise across Mary's beautiful brown eyes. She nodded and joined him in the corridor.

"I am sorry for how I treated you at the harvest. You just…irritate me like no other". he said grimly, with his signature smirk. No other woman had ever affected him quite like Mary.

"Francis, I have something I must confess also" she said sadly.

Francis placed his arm on her. He shook his head.

"Anything you think I might not have seen, I already know of. I just ask you that you do not do that again." He said firmly. Her eyes widened.

"I'm not excusing myself, but it meant nothing. That I promise you." she said with all her heart, and Francis felt as if a grey cloud was removed from the top of his head.

"I believe you" he said kissing her hand. "And about Olivia, she will be leaving us shortly." he assured his future Queen.

Mary beamed and looked over to her ladies. Perhaps everything would return to normal now.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Olivia stormed into the Queen's chambers, completely wild with anger.

"Your Grace, I promise you that if your son banishes me to some lowly castle I will expose your secrets to the king himself" she said, in the moment casting aside the proper greetings for the queen of France.

Catherine looked at the girl blankly. She wryly thought that Mary, no matter her temper, would always have had better manners than this.

"Expose my secrets? My dear, I'd have you hanged before you could utter a breath to my disloyal husband." She waved for her guards to remove this girl from her presence. She had hoped that Olivia would spark an old flame in her son, perhaps becoming pregnant and removing Mary from the picture altogether. She was many things to many people, but Queen Catherine would not fail as a mother. She would not see war come for her sons, and would not have Nostradamus's prophecy come true. She stared in the mirror at her ageing face. So much had changed. She remembered being content knowing the little girl she raised would marry her son. She admired the girl and could ask of no one better. If only it hadn't been prophecies that this girl would bring the death of her son.

Mary folded her hands into her lap, feeling the silk of her dress. It reminded of her mother's gown that she would play with as a small child. Kenna was sitting next to her. She felt bad for how she had reacted to finding out she was sleeping with the King. Mary knew it was mostly because she hated the idea of kings having mistresses.

"Kenna, I want you to know we are still friends" Mary began.

Kenna looked at her with hurt eyes.

"I know you think I'm just being naive, and that the king doesn't really love me. But I swear he does." she said earnestly.

"I hope for your sake he does" Mary said worriedly.

"I cannot believe Francis has not banished Olivia yet" Kenna said, quickly changing the subject.

"Me neither. But it is the Queen's wish that Olivia make my life miserable. I am sure of it" Mary said, the anxiety creeping into her mind again. With everyone against her and Francis, would their love ever be accepted?

"The Queen? What ever do you mean?" Kenna said, a plan forming in her mind.

"The Queen wishes Francis would not marry me, for some reason. And I am sure she has figured that Olivia would be perfect to come between us" Mary explained.

"I have an idea" Kenna smiled. "I can speak to the king." Mary stared blankly, and then remembered that Kenna thought she had some kind of power over the king now that she was his main mistress.

"Be careful. I've heard the king has quite the temper" Mary cautioned. Kenna did not seem to heed her words, already rushing towards the door, her long brown hair flying behind her. Mary felt worse than ever.

Kenna smoothed her hair and pinched her cheeks as she approached the King's chamber. It was late, and she was sure he was waiting for her. She slipped inside, she had her own key now.

"Your Grace" she said, giving him a confident smile. He brushed her formalities aside and motioned for her to come into his bed.

"Kenna, I've been thinking about you all day" he admitted. Kenna's heart raced when she heard this. Surely their love was as great as all the fairytales she had read as a child.

"As have I." Kenna said honestly.

"I have something to ask of you" she said boldly. The king raised his eyebrows. He was intrigued, to say the very least.

"Mary is constantly worried at the presence of Olivia. We were told she would be leaving court, but the Queen makes sure she stays. I know you are more powerful than the Queen, and I was hoping you would help Mary." Kenna said. She felt uneasy. Even though she was confident asking favours of the king would not irritate him, she hoped he would not brush this off as a silly request.

"My love, tomorrow morning, Olivia will be on her way. That is a promise" Henry said, the hunger in his eyes growing as his lips crashed on to Kenna's. Kenna returned the kiss and giggled. She knew the king loved her.

Olivia strolled in the gardens until she found Bash. She decided that with the Queen annoyed at her and Mary trying everything to get rid of her, she would need some alliances. She spotted Bash sitting alone under a tree and walked over to him.

"Hello my lord" she said politely, smiling at him.

"Olivia, it is a pleasure. I'm surprised to see you here still" he said, his bright blue eyes showing no kindness towards her.

"Where else would I go?" Olivia smirked. She was tired of playing the victim.

She sat down next to Bash.

"The real question is why are you out here all alone?" she said, sitting closer to him than was appropriate.

Bash looked over at her darkly.

"Everyone in the castle is too preoccupied to worry about real problems" he said sighing.

"Or maybe you are avoiding them because you can't face Mary" she said, trying to provoke a response from him.

"What do you know of Mary?" he responded too quickly.

"I know that you wish she was yours instead of your brothers'" she said, brushing his arm.

"He's my half brother actually" Bash muttered.

"Believe me. I know what it is to feel outcast, like you will never belong" she said, allowing her blue eyes to fill with tears, a skill she had long mastered.

"Please, do not cry." Bash said tiredly. He reached over and brushed the tears from her eyes. She looked up at him, leaning closer, until her soft lips were on his. He let himself fall into the kiss. He needed to feel love. She pulled away.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to do that" she said distraught, brushing her lips. Bash nodded. This was all too familiar. Why was it that these girls came to him after a fight with his brother? He would always be the second choice.

"Do not worry, I will not tell anyone" Bash assured her.

"Thank you. You are a friend" she responded, smiling shyly at him. He nodded again, his eyes stormy with thoughts.

Olivia turned and crossed the grounds back to the palace. Everything was falling to place.


	3. Chapter 3

For once in his life, Bash began to realise that the relationship between him and Francis was more that brother and brother. It was king to a lesser man. He was illegitimate. Francis would soon come into his own power and realise that Bash was a threat. He might even send him away on a war or far off mission. And it did not help that his eyes were always fixated on Mary. Bash recalled the angry words Francis had thrown into the air. Words that sounded like orders. Real, royal orders. Mary was to see other men, but not him. Not the future kings brother. But he wasn't really his brother anyway. So what. They shared a father. A father who probably had 100 other children considering the amount of mistresses he enjoyed.

Bash remembered the first time he realised he was not to be a prince. Francis had been invited to a grand ball, a celebration of the birthday of a six year old princess. The queen, his father the king and Francis were being prepared by their servants. Bash had run up to the queen and asked her what he was going to wear. Catherine had laughed and cruelly told him that the ball was only for real princes. Bash had cried that night to his mother. He was seven. He asked why his mother was not the queen, when his father was the king. She had stroked his hair and told him he was the fun prince, never having to do boring affairs of state and still being able to live in the castle. She explained that Catherine was cruel to them only because she knew just how much of a threat they were to her own young son Francis. Apart from that incident, Bash had never really wondered about the difference between him and his younger brother. At least not until he reached an age where the truth was to be understood. He was an outsider in his own family. His own home.

"Bash!" Mary called out, running as fast as her dress would permit.

Bash turned around, the words of his brother echoing in his ears. He was not meant to even go close to Mary. He breathed in, steadying himself, which of course was a mistake as he breathed in Mary's heady floral and feminine scent.

"Your Grace" he answered formally. By being distant, maybe she'd understand how far apart they really were.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm not angry about the whole sacrifice thing. It wasn't your fault. I may have been afraid but I was never angry. And I still want to be your friend" she said, showing disrespect to the words of Francis, and secretly making Bash's heart soar.

"Your Highness, my brother the future king of France has ordered me to keep my arms off you. And you may be beautiful, but you are not worth being imprisoned, or worse, for." Bash said coldly, turning on his heel and leaving Mary dumbfounded. He would never in a million years admit that he'd risk execution for her, that he'd take a sword for her, that he had never for one moment been afraid in the Bloodwood because he knew he was there to protect her. She should never know these things. These were not things a bastard should think about his royal brothers future wife.

Mary stood and watched as Bash left. She knew she loved Francis more than anyone, so why did she feel a piece of her heart break when Bash walked away? Was it possible to give a heart to two different people? The romance stories Mary had always begged Alaina, the one nun in the convent who had stolen these books from a sordid library in Turkey to read to her always clearly stated that the princess was rescued and then fell in love with the prince and then rode off into the sunset with said prince. Mary struggled to recall if these princes ever had handsome, kind brothers who rode into evil woods to save them. She sat by the window and watched the sun set over the grounds, something which always calmed her back at the convent.

"Your highness, may I sit with you?" Mary heard the accented voice of Olivia. She felt a zing of hatred flow through her but remembered her place as future queen, and the need to act with grace.

"Of course" she replied calmly. Olivia shot her a smirk and her blue eyes betrayed the jealousy she felt inside. Olivia sat down and for a moment admired the sunset.

"Francis loves me too you know" she said bluntly. Mary resented how Olivia always seemed kind in the beginning and then just turned into a malicious girl two minutes later.

"He loved you in the past. He loves me now" Mary said with more surety than she actually felt. Olivia gave one of her smirks again.

"Is that why he asked for freedom to see other people? He's bending the rules of engagement for me" she said haughtily. Any other queen to be would have felt outrage at being disrespected this way by a non royal. Mary only felt sadness.

"He is free to ask anything of me. He is the future king of France, and of he is to be my husband it is best we agree on a few things" Mary said firmly, enjoying just for a moment watching Olivia squirm. She excused herself and walked towards the sunset. Her problems could wait until tomorrow.

Olivia sat watching the sunset alone for a while. She had kissed Francis last night but he had stopped everything. He had actually blushed and she knew Mary was on his mind. She had been hoping that he would sleep with her. This time she would be pregnant with the future prince of France. Her powers of seduction had never failed her before, in fact she found it quite easy to convince men of all social standings to spend the night with her. She huffed. The queen wanted her pregnant. She would obey gladly. She hoped deep down Francis still loved her somewhat. Noticing she was alone she decided to slip out of the castle grounds and into the local tavern and inn, which always served the best mead and wine in the kingdom. She walked into the bar with her red velvet hood drawn around her Lucious blonde curls. She spotted Bash sitting, brooding into an empty jar of wine.

"Bash, what brings you here, so far from the castle" she said softly, moving closer to him. A plan was already forming in her mind.

"Everything in the castle makes me crazy" Bash slurred. This was clearly not his first round of drinks.

"Everything... Or everyone?" She said winking and wrapping her arm around his broad shoulders. Bash looked at her hazily.

"I think she loves me back" Bash almost whispered. He stumbled and knocked a chair over, earning a grin from the bartender.

"Even the royals can't hold down their liquor" the portly old man grinned.

Bash looked up, anguish in his electric blue eyes. His hair covered half of their glare.

"I'm not a royal" he almost growled and stormed out. Olivia followed quickly. This seduction would be the easiest by far. He was vulnerable now.

Olivia followed Bash further and deeper into the forest, until she noticed they were no longer on the Kings Road.

"Bash, do you know where you're going?" Olivia called, brushing away pangs of fear.

"Just a bit further" he slurred. Olivia panicked. If someone were to attack them, Bash was in no state to fight them off. He could barely put one foot in front of the other. Olivia looked around her.

"Bash," she said in horror, "we're in the Bloodwood".


End file.
